“Happy and successful cooking doesn't rely only on know-how; it comes from the heart, makes great demands on the palate and needs enthusiasm and a deep love of food to bring it to life.”
- Georges Blanc, Ma Cuisine des Saisons!

January 16, 2009

Spicy Thai salad is my contribution to "A.W.E.D.-Thailand" (vegetarian) event which is hosted by DK of "Culinary Bazaar". Thanks for hosting, dear Ms. DK! :))As DK and I were talking about weight, gaining and losing and all that beautiful things (Mine mostly! :D) last week, I thought I will make a light and spicy dish rather than usual Thai curries specially for DK for her event and went on to search and research to come up with this salad. Then I find this event "Just for you" hosted by Alka of "Sindhi Rasoi" who asks us to cook for a friend, family members etc. So, this salad which I specially picked and made for DK fits perfectly to Alka's event as well! :)LG of "cooking station" is hosting a "SWC-salads under 15mins" event too, just found out. Here it is for you too LG, enjoy!Then came this wonderful "AFAM-Persimmon" event, originally conceived by Maheswari and Trupti of "recipecenterforall" is guest hosting this month with her choice of fruit. Persimmon Pudding goes to her.Since this pudding is baked with fruit, low fat milk and excellent for kids as well as adults, I am sending this to "Cooking for kids-Milk, milk products" event which is started by Sharmi of "Neivedyam" blog and Preety of "Preety's Kitchen" is guest hosting this month.

Thanks for all of you for taking time to host and round up, enjoy the spicy Thai salad and cool it down with delicious and easy to make Persimmon Pudding!! :)

Hot and spicy salad from Thailand:Well.. I don't know whether Thai people eat this salad in their land (like Taco Bell is authentic "Mexican food", "Curry" is Indian! :D) but in US restaurants, this spicy salad is quite popular as an appetizer. Yes, I have eaten it and loved it, that's where the inspiration comes from for me to recreate this salad.There is a Thai Beef salad called "Yam Neua", similar to this dish except served topped with grilled Beef. I have adapted this vegetarian recipe with some additions of my own from the Naked chef "Jamie Oliver".

All I can say is, this salad is deliciously spicy and can make a great light lunch as well. Loaded with fresh vegetables, peanuts, Almonds, green chillies, crunchy noodles and topped with sesame seeds oil, ginger, garlic. lemon juice etc in the dressing, it makes a satisfying and low fat appetizer or lunch. Enjoy.

On a salad plate or bowl, add lettuce first to create a bed, add all the other veggies mentioned above one by one and pile up. Sprinkle roasted nuts, crunchy noodles and herbs on top, garnish with green onion. Serve with hot and spicy dressing on the side and just before you serve or eat, sprinkle the dressing on top. Don't mix dressing before hand, fresh veggies and nuts get soggy and soft. Remember, dressing is spicy!

Thai style HOT dressing! Slurp!! :D

For Thai dressing, mix all these well in a bowl and let it rest for an hour or so in the fridge:3-4 tbsp fresh lemon juice, 1 tsp canola oil, 1 tbsp sesame seed oil, 2 tsp Soy sauce, 1 tsp brown sugar or honey, 1 tsp grated ginger, 1 garlic, grated, 1 tsp red chilli sauce (I added Sriracha hot sauce, and 1/2 tsp of peanut butter too!), few cilantro. Shake these well in a bottle, pour into a bowl and chill for few mins before serving. Stick a few lemon slices and cilantro to garnish. Adjust the salt, chilli etc to your taste. It should spicy, sweet and tangy, all in one. Sounds good, huh? Enjoy! :))

*****************************************************************************************************************Persimmon:I am happy to give you this delicious and easy to bake recipe. I had neverbought Persimmon before since I didn't know how it tasted. Thanks to Trupti's AFAM, I went and bought 4 Japanese "Fuyus" Persimmon which look like ripe yellow Tomatoes. It smelled so delicious and tasted like Lychees. They say that other kind of Persimmon, which is heart shaped tangy "Hachiya" should be used to cook, and Fuyus should be eaten fresh. But I did use the Fuyus and trust me, they baked perfectly even with a thick sweet syrup under the pudding!! My son ate half of it alone with cream! :DHope you try and bake this yummy pudding. It's low in fat and not too sweet, great for kids and grown ups alike, almost a diet dessert if you skip the cream!!

Persimmon Pudding:This recipe is adapted from "Allrecipes" websites but I did a change a lot, specially cut down the sugar etc. If you don't like the Egg, you can skip it. Pudding is scoopable, not like cake. So it's quite okay to skip the egg, egg makes it fluffy though. Baking time varies too acc. to your oven.

To bake Persimmon Pudding, you need these:4 ripe Fuyu persimmons, peeled and roughly chopped or squeeze out into chunks,1/3 cup white sugar, or more if you like it really sweet,1 egg, beaten, (skip the egg if you like but pudding will be less fluffy)1 cup all-purpose flour,1/4 tsp baking soda,1 tsp baking powder.

1. In a mixing bowl, mix persimmon pulp, baking soda, sugar and egg and beat until well mixed.2. Add flour, baking powder, cinnamon, vanilla essence, salt, milk and melted butter to the bowl with fruit etc, mix well again.3. Pour into baking pan and bake for 50-65 minutes or until needle inserted comes clean. Do not over bake,it's okay if it's little soft in the center, it will firm up as it cools.

(You don't have to do this step but do it if you can. After 20mins of baking, open the oven door and with a fork, stir the middle of the pudding few times and let it bake. It makes the pudding fluffier! Don't open the oven door again)

4. Pudding will rise in the oven and puff but will fall in after cooling, which is normal. Cool the pudding.5. Serve with creamy whipped cream if you like.You can use any ripe fruit with pulp in the same recipe instaed of Persimmons. Oven baking times may vary, use your judgment.

Have a great weekend, see you on Monday! :))

Posted by
Asha

49 comments:

I love thai salde liks this, it is spicy and refreshing at the same time.I have never made anything with permission and the pudding looks so yumm.Have a wonderful weekend.We are planning to go for shopping, tommorow as it is sales here and Shyama need trousers, pull over etc and yeah Hans to need to buy trousers.

I have seen a similar recipe for Thai veggie salad,but as you said,was not so sure how "authentic" it was..so far,I have seen only non-veg thai dishes..this one's a treat..the plate looks so tempting..;-)I have not tried/tasted anything with Persimmon and am not sure whether it is available here..would love to cook with it now that I've seen how easy it is to make the pudding which can be made eggless too..;-)

PERFECTO!!!I love love love that salad...not just becoz its colorful and healthy but becoz its SPICY!!!!:)..Persimmon is a very new fruit to me...dont recollect seeing it anywhr in the stores too..tastes like lychees huh..then i would definitely like it..The pudding looks divine..thats one inviting plate Asha...

Good Morning Asha! I am here and your comment just popped up in mine :)..Spicy salad?? Most welcome in my house,hehe. It must be so good with those cool veggies. Do post any other thai recipes if u do cook them. I have never attempted thai food at home. The pudding looks great too, have tasted only the fruit and it was pleasantly good.

Vijaya, try once. Choose the ones which look like ripe round Tomatoes, they are sweet and smells so good!:)

Spicy salad was so good, I saved some dinner too, had it for lunch.Very satisfying! Happy shopping, it's always fun! :)

LOL! Meeta, when I started looking exactly like my nani and mummy, I gave up the hope of being skinny! Low fat is great, no-fat is not good at all in my book! :DBut they both are healthy and happy though, so wt doesn't bother me much as long as I feel good and healthy!:))Glad I tried the Persimmons, they are yummy!

H, fresh chilled veggies are great to eat by themselves. Persimmon smell like Lichis, tastes slightly sweet and very pulpy and naturally juicy. Try the round ones. Heart shaped ones are very tangy, may be good for cakes or with lot of sugar!:)

Maya, I have one Thai Eggplant dish at FH, but don't cook much Thai at home because kids don't like spicy food too much. I will post one when I make it! Make pudding next time, it's so good and low fat too! :)

J, they do look like tomatoes! :DRipe ones are great to eat and they do spoil very quickly sitting on the counter top, got to use quick! :)

sra, that is so gross! He will make all the pure vegetarians commit suicide if they know it, that's not good at all! :DSweet round ones are Japanese and they say that heart shaped ones are really tangy, makes your mouth pucker. I love this sweet Fuyu thing!:))

Sri, it's good that most hosts don't mind one dish sent to several events. That's the only way I can send it to the events, or else I can send it to only 4 or 5 per month, too many events are on these days! :D

Hi Asha, i was not aware that u have another food blog!i just clicked on the link in ur sidebar and here i am! the salad looks great and colorful..nicely presented..i guess u can send it to another event http://testtasteofmysore.blogspot.com/2009/01/swc-salads-under-15-mins.html

I have never attempted Thai food at home. . The salad looks great ,colorful and very inviting.. The pudding looks divine.. But I have not heard of that fruit. Both the dishes are new to me.. lovely dishes.. Lovely entries…Have a wonderful weekend!

Ek teer do nishane, here two teer, many nishane!! :D Loved the greens in your veg-veggie salad! The Permission is new to me, had read abt this few weeks ago thru blog. This surely looks yummy pudding! Beautiful entries!

Hi Ashakka, I was away partying with Mahila Sangha ladies so could not check out your post and thanks for sending me this lovely entry. Salad looks refreshing and thai salads are always flavorful. Nice presentation too..

...and its no wonder that I adore u so much! U make salads sound yum! Until now if the dieting manual said, salad for lunch - I would eat Pasta Salad, rice salad etc ;-) ! If I was meant to eat salad , then I wud have been born a goat u know! But well - guess my anti-goat days are finally over with you salad! I will making it this weekend and claim myself to be on the best diet ever ;-) By the way isnt that delicious pudding a side for the salad ;) ;)

India? I am not in India! I am here "few" miles right across on the west coast!

And since I know I am going to make your salad this weekend - the thought of me being so good enough that i am eating salads made me get into splurging mood by going for the makhani! -Its ur Salad that gives me strength to eat Dal Makhani's Asha - Dint you get it ;-)

ROTFL! Sure, sure DK! Eat salad and then feel good and then hog all the Makhani and then feel guilty. HeeHee!! Sounds like a great idea to me.

Oh, I thought I read you were in India in your blog. Shoot! I go to so many blogs in a day these days, I think I am layering people and infos over in my mind. Glad my mind is STILL is in working condition although malfunctions sometimes! :D

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